About Me

Thursday, June 21, 2007

The May meeting of the Wasatch Beekeepers Association was held May 17, 2007 at Jones Bee in Salt Lake City. The meeting was conducted by Jim Brosius, Vice-President. 19 people were attended the meeting.

The April meeting minutes were read by the secretary, Karen Dupaix, after which the newsletter report was given by Paul Dupaix. 25 May newsletters were mailed out, and 30 were sent by email.

Jim Brosius gave the journal report on CCD, using information obtained from Wikipedia.com. He indicated that CCD may be linked to a disease called Nosema, a fungal parasite spread by fecal matter. CCD is a large term that encompasses many factors, some of which are controversial.

Byron Anderson, treasurer, gave the treasurer’s report. We have $424.00 in our account at Zion’s Bank. He was happy to report an influx of new members.

Our program director, Mary Jane Grange introduced our program, which began with Danielle Downey, SL county bee inspector, speaking about her inspector job. She handed out copies of registration forms, by-laws and the Inspector Act. She discussed various problems affecting honeybees, including varroa mites, stress and CCD. She asked all beekeepers to please register with their local inspector. Hive poaching using pheromones was briefly discussed.

Mary Jane next gave a beginning Beekeeper’s class, using posters to prompt discussion.

Maurice Cobo next presented his beekeeping methods. He doesn’t use hive bottoms, which allows mites to drop out of the hive, onto the ground. He showed various hive bottoms he has created, and the types of frame inserts he prefers.

Byron Anderson was the next presenter. He talked about how he cares for his hives, which is somewhat different because he will soon have 300 of them. Byron creates his own bottom boards and uses a hand truck a lot. He talked about the different products bees produce and the benefits of shallow supers (they’re lighter). He went over how to split a hive and how he uses a blow torch to light his smoker.

The very informative meeting was dismissed until June 21, at which time we will have a second beginning beekeeping class, where honeybee pests and diseases will be discussed.